Shakespeare Antennas Coax Cable & Extensions

Shakespeare Antennas Coax Cable & Extensions: The Missing Link in Your Marine Comm System

A high-performance marine antenna is only as good as the cable feeding it. Shakespeare Antennas — a brand with roots stretching back to 1897 and more than a century of innovation in marine electronics — understands this better than almost anyone. That same engineering discipline that shaped their renowned VHF and Phase III™ antenna lines carries directly into their coax cable and extension offerings, ensuring signal integrity from radio to masthead.

Why Cable Quality Matters on the Water

Salt air, UV exposure, vibration, and moisture are the enemies of coaxial cable. A poorly chosen cable introduces signal loss before the transmission even leaves the boat, undermining an otherwise excellent antenna installation. Shakespeare addresses this with low-loss marine-grade coax — purpose-built to minimize the signal degradation that cheaper, general-purpose cable creates over longer runs.

Shakespeare utilizes low-loss cable across a range of needs — from cable kits for the Phase III line of antennas to extension cables for VHF and AM/FM and SiriusXM antennas, as well as raw RG-8X cable for any coax need. This means whether you are routing a new VHF installation or extending an existing satellite radio antenna, Shakespeare offers a matched cable solution rather than a generic one.

Cable Types and Specific Applications

Shakespeare's coax lineup covers the most common marine cable types and connector standards:

• RG-8X: A popular low-loss option for VHF runs, offering a good balance of flexibility and performance for mid-to-long cable runs on larger vessels.
• RG-58: A lighter, more flexible cable often used for shorter runs and satellite radio applications such as SiriusXM antenna replacements.
• RG-62 (AM/FM extension): Some Shakespeare AM/FM extension kits include 93-ohm RG-62 cable with male and female Motorola connectors pre-installed, making for a plug-and-play installation.
• Phase III Cable Kits: Dedicated 20-foot cable kits matched specifically to Shakespeare's Phase III VHF antenna family, ensuring the connector and cable spec align precisely with the antenna's design.

Shakespeare offers an extensive line of marine-grade connectors and adapters for antenna installations, and their gold-plated brass connectors minimize connector-borne signal loss. Pairing a Shakespeare extension cable with Shakespeare connectors creates a cohesive, low-loss signal path throughout the entire system.

Built on Over a Century of Marine Expertise

In 1897, William Shakespeare Jr. founded the company in Kalamazoo, MI as a fishing reel manufacturer; the company quickly expanded to manufacture fishing line, fiberglass fishing rods, and antennas, opening a factory in Columbia, SC in 1946. Today, Shakespeare is regarded as a leading global antenna brand serving both military and civilian maritime customers, and innovation has been a driving force since their humble beginnings — in the 1960s, their engineers developed low-angle radiation techniques in marine antennas, paving the way for their industry leadership.

Utilizing decades of research and development, Shakespeare manufactures best-in-class marine electronics and accessories that deliver reliable connectivity wherever and whenever you need it — products built to last and withstand harsh marine environments while providing superior performance.

When the goal is a complete, cohesive marine communication setup, it makes sense to extend that same brand confidence from the antenna all the way down the coax run. Browse Shakespeare's coax cable and extensions alongside their full antenna ecosystem to build a system where every component is engineered to work together.